Along the Way
by Nordremo
Summary: Tony Stark decided he needed some change in his life. Some drastic can't-turn-back-now kind of change in fact, after the post Sokovia Accords bullshit that had left him worn out. So Tony found it best to start afresh, and bought a one-way ticket into the unknown. Now was the time to get some peace, away from the constant buzz, and get to find his true self along the way.
1. And the Phoenix, Once again

**Title:** Along the Way

 **Author:** Nordremo

 **Fandom:** Marvel Cinematic Universe

 **Rating:** T

 **Pairing(s):** Loki/Tony Stark mainly

 **Warning(s):** language, explicit violence

 **Spoiler(s):** MCU Phase Deux

 **Summary:** Tony Stark decided he needed some change in his life. Some drastic can't-turn-back-now kind of change in fact. The post Sokovia accords bullshit had let him worn out; Captain muscles and his stupid unapologetic letter had made him use words Rhodey had never heard before. Hell, Tony had even considered buying a cargo full of mobile phones to build a giant middle finger and offer it kindly to said Captain superb.

Instead, Tony found it best to start afresh, and throw away whatever remained of an extravagant -yet chaotic- life. He bought a one-way ticket into the unknown. Now was the time to get some peace, away from the constant buzz, and get to find his true self along the way.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: And the Phoenix, Again…**

 ** _What is that other soul  
so free from things  
between God and nothing_**

 ** _-The Fan Painter_**

* * *

He was aware of Steve watching him from the doorway, leaning on it. Not saying anything. Not that there was anything to say to begin with. Tony resumed his packing, checking he had everything in this huge backpack of his displayed out on his bed. His bed he wouldn't see in a very long time.

'So you're leaving?'

At first Tony didn't acknowledge the question. Rogers always had a knack for stating the obvious when he didn't know how to get the other party to talk. In normal circumstances it would irritate Tony, but now it was different.

Now he was too tired to care.

'Yeah, I am.' Tony closed the clasps of his backpack, pulling on the lid to ensure it was properly closed before sliding it up on his shoulder and finally turning to Rogers.

He couldn't decipher anything on his face even if he wanted to. Tony was used to it by now, he had seen this look on the man for weeks during their… He walked to the door, Steve sidestepping to let him out.

'You don't have to do this', he heard him say then.

Tony barely bit back a bitter laugh.

'One of us has to. And as the current situation stands, it certainly shouldn't be you.'

'This is ridiculous. It just looks like you're running away…'

'From what? My responsibilities?'

Ah. There was the bitter laugh.

'There's no pleasing you, isn't it? When I stay, I am the man who dares showing his face instead of crawling up a hole somewhere dark in shame like he should do, and when I'm leaving and doing supposedly that, I'm running away. Really Rogers, tell me, you who's so knowledgeable, whatever shall I do?'

He knew that Rogers had no answer to that, and even if he did, Tony didn't let him.

'Think whatever you want. You know at this point it's been a long time I've been past caring.' He started along the corridor again, only to be stopped by Rogers calling after him.

'You still have to tell me why. Yeah, things went horribly wrong between us, and I can aknowledge the fact that you need your space to reflect on it, as all of us need to, but leaving for good altogether…'

'We can't work together anymore', interrupted Tony, turning swiftly to face him. 'We just can't.'

"I don't want to" was left unsaid.

'Our views are too different, and we're too stubborn to compromise and discuss things or whatever it is that responsible adults do. If we were capable of that, all this fucking giant mess would never had happened in the first place. I know that. You know that. Everyone fucking knows that. Butting heads isn't really the problem, we've been doing that since the very beginning. It's that it went down to this extent. Maybe your memory is horribly failing you, but we still went this close to killing each other. Us. Heroes. Who are supposed to be the good guys kicking the ass of the bad guys, not kicking each other's ass. What do you think it did to people, seeing us turning against each other like this? They're scared now, they don't know if they can still trust us. Trust you. In their minds, there is no grey area, one of us just has to be wrong and then be out of the picture. To step back.'

Tony caught sight of Steve still on his spot by the door a few steps behind him.

'And they won't accept it to be you.'

Turning his back on him again, he walked a few steps further before Steve spoke again.

'Being a martyr figure doesn't suit you, Stark. You're not this kind of guy.'

Tony stopped and turned slowly to him.

'No I'm not. Doesn't mean I can stand the idea of staying and risking things going all to hell once more because I wasn't granted the opportunity to properly reflect on it and learn from it. Doesn't mean I would have the strength to go against you once again when we start another war because one of us wouldn't stand back since hey, that's what we do. Doesn't mean you won't have to resort to killing me this time.'

He reajusted the strap on his shoulder.

'Because I would probably let you.'

Steve didn't say anything when he walked away this time, not waiting for an answer.

He probably finally figured out that there was nothing he could say that could make Tony stay.

* * *

It had been that easy. To walk out. After all that fiasco with Dr. Zemo or whatever his name was, Steve and some of the Avengers (because yes, for Tony they were still part of the team in spite of their disagreements, no question about that) going off the grid, Rhodey being stuck to the ground for a while now if not definitely...Tony had time to reflect. Sort of. Okay, just at first. Because now that the "official" Avenger team was on the road, the UN started to use them as stated in the damn Sokovia Accords. Yeah, "damn", as it turned out that those Accords, beside the fact of being obviously needed, were basically flawed. Tony knew it while signing them. He had read enough contracts in his life to point out weaknesses and flawed reasoning. And the Accords were no exception.

And this was precisely why he agreed to them. To make a point. To show that being legally accountable, yes, but this way, no. Because Tony wasn't stupid. He understood Steve's reservations and his points, very valid ones that is, but once again, unlike Tony, he had failed to see the big picture. Not even once did Steve take the time to seriously consider what the consequences would have been if they all agreed to sign the Accords, and followed their policies as said. Because really, it wasn't that hard. At first he thought that Natasha had seen it as well, and that it was the reason for her siding with him in this mess, but once again he had been mistaken; he guessed there was no knowing a spy. Not that she knew him as well. That was everyone's mistake: thinking they knew him. Only that food would be for another train of thought.

The point was, with Steve running around to save his secret cyborg murderer boyfriend from facing justice, Tony never had the chance to sit with him and explain his plan. Because yeah, big surprise, Tony had a plan to overcome the stupid Accords for certain. A plan that Steve wouldn't have agreed to anyway maybe, but a plan nonetheless. Now, stupid Captain America _had_ to act like his most holier-than-you righteous outraged self. No time to think and listen, just act. Typical. The nerve he had to tell him they needed a plan the first time around, when obviously the term was gone from his vocabulary now. What happened to that, heh? Well, he had a pretty good idea. The reason started with "B" and ended with "arnes". Oh he had checked for sure; Steve had never started to act so ruthlessly and recklessly before his old army bro appeared in the picture. How. _Telling_.

Starting from that point, things were only bound to go down to hell. Rogers couldn't and wouldn't be contained once he had made his mind, that was like, the basics. But now the question was: why let him do whatever he wanted _anyway_? Stronger men had been stopped from doing exactly that from time to time, but as for dear Steve, it seemed that the Captain America uniform granted you the privilege to not worry about seriously being stopped by the people who actually could. Because apparently, sporting a star-spangled vibranium shield was enough to gain unquestionable loyalty from followers who _weren't even agreeing with you in the first place_. At this point, for Tony it just screamed "twisted hero-worship". People were always quick and eager to stop _him_ whenever he suggested to take action after all, whether he was wearing the suit or not. How unfair was that?

Anyway, his plan to evict the Sokovia Accords was pretty simple. If he had had the time to, Tony would have explained to Rogers that waiting it out was their best way to eventually get back to be left on their own devices. Why? Well, because: unprecedented situation. Seriously, who had experience in managing a bunch of super-powered people who just happened to save the world on a daily basis on their own and without anyone telling them to? The answer was: no one. The UN were as new to this shit as the Avengers themselves. The thing was, Capsicle was right when talking about people with agendas; the Accords basically sold them out to the world's politicians, hundreds of them, with their own little schemes and personal plots. And that text _did_ take away their freedom to choose; hell, if they ever decided to make them do campaign advertisements or a TV show about their daily lives they just couldn't have said no. If it was labelled as a "mission", that is (and as every law worthy of that name, the text had left the term "mission" entirely out of a proper and precise definition).

But that was exactly the point: letting them do anything with them, letting them do _fucking_ _mistakes_. Because one thing, a very big one, that Steve had mentioned but failed to really take into account, was that with that text, the responsibility had _indeed_ shifted. It would have been _out of their hands_. Which meant that every mission they would have been sent to or forbidden to go onto -as Saint Cap feared- would have been _the world's governments responsibility._ Being a bunch of lapdogs following orders without having the right to question them came with the package of taking the blame every time said lapdogs fucked up. It was as simple as that. Tony was a hundred percent sure that each government -or among the greediest at least- would have tried at some point _for sure_ to exploit them into its own little agenda. And politicians being a naturally paranoid species, it wouldn't have taken that long for some of them to throw accusations around as to why some country said yes or no about some intervention of them, and what that was hypothetically hiding, and 'the Avengers belong to everyone', and 'you just can't exploit them for personal gain' and 'are you trying to make a personal army out of them', bla bla bla. The usual conspiracy stuff basically. It was easy to forget that for these people, the world came down as a gigantic sandbox where no one wanted to share and jealously kept their toys for themselves, may those toys nevertheless be at everyone's disposal.

And don't even get him started about the nations that _didn't_ belong to the UN. It would certainly have been _glorious_ to hear their opinion about sending a bunch of guys into their territory whether they asked or not; or even the tiny-meeny-bit saying, not in so much explicit words, that they just simply _couldn't_ ask for the Avengers' help because _they're not part of the bunch of people who signed the damn thing_.

And that was it. The new order would have been destroyed as easily as the old ordeal had started: with stick and stones and chaos. And probably explosions. Not of the cool kind. With always the same people being caught in the crossfire: the civilians. Who would have protested in some way eventually. About what, he wasn't sure exactly, but certainly they would have remembered all the times the Avengers came to the rescue _just because they could and had made it their duty to help everytime they could._ Not mentioning when they were actually the only ones able to do something _at all_.

Or, even before all that, before reaching that point, they could have discussed some clauses of the Accords, meaning every single one they didn't agree with. And, on this behalf, they could simply have stood their ground together, as a _team_ , about not signing anything until first, an agreement was reached among themselves as Avengers, and second, another one with the UN about changing said clauses. Some would have argued that they wouldn't have had any leverage to make one hundred and seventeen nations yield, but the fact was, they _had_. The Avengers had been acting as an independent group for years now, but they were still individuals with basic human rights (apart from Vision maybe but Tony had been working on it), and they could have done a lot of things to hinder if not slow down the process drastically.

Because in the eye of the law, the Accords were basically a contract, and it was the basics that the terms of said contract had to be discussed by all parties involved. Which hadn't been the case at all in this matter; one day General Ross had just walked in and put the stuff on the table demanding they sign it on the sole behalf that one hundred and seventeen countries had agreed to it. Without consulting them. Like Steve liked to remind everyone, with his oh-so-very-convenient-thing-about-not-moving-even-though-the world-tells-you-to-or-whatever, it's not because the majority agreed on something that they're right. And obviously, to force something like that down their throat and expecting them to immediately comply without so much as a protest had been deeply patronizing.

One thing was true though: no one had ever bothered to state an actual legal frame into which the Avengers could evolve. Meaning: they could basically do whatever they wanted without any fear of legal repercussions. No one had ever taken the time to give them an actual existence in regard of the law, and that's why something like the Accords was needed. Until now, it was Tony and mostly Stark Industries that had taken it upon themselves to amend for any cost and damage they left in their wake.

But it just couldn't last forever, as the Avengers weren't any part of Stark Industries, and thus just weren't operating on any existing policies of the enterprise. A sponsor wasn't an employer. The Avengers were just a wild card, a wild card that needed boundaries, and badly. Steve had refused to understand that, because he trusted himself too much about always doing the right thing (ha!) but failed to remember that not everyone knew him personally and most of all, no one was living in his head. If he really expected the world to unconditionally, blindly trust them without question, then Tony felt sorry for him and his pathetically arrogant view of it. Ironically, he acted exactly like those "people with agendas" he hated so much. He was the first to claim about answering for your actions when it came to a lot of people, but as for him? Well no, it was different of course; he was the _hero_ , he was doing the right thing, and you don't have to answer for anything to anyone when you do that. Casualties? Damage? Give him a break: they were normal consequences of war.

War. What a concept. Actually, the whole thing was tightly linked to that word. Because maybe that, as Ultron had sadly painfully stated, Steve Rogers just didn't know how to live without it. Now that Tony was thinking about it, it actually kind of made sense. Steve had struggled all his life, since the very beginning, first as a sickly scrawny child, second as a sickly scrawny teenager and young man, and lastly even as fricking Captain America. Hell, his whole life had been nothing but a fight. The world was at war when he went under the ice, and it was still at war when he got out of it, but not the kind of war he knew. Far from it. He certainly didn't have the time to cope with that fact. Not that anyone tried to help him with that either. So after all, maybe his rash actions could be understood beyond his stubbornness; Steve Rogers was still trapped in a state of war mind, and either didn't want to or couldn't get out of it. Poor bastard just didn't know any better.

And still. Flag Boy being stuck in the past wasn't Tony's fucking fault or problem. Since closing down his weapon factory, he had done his best at making amends, starting with listening to anyone who needed to be heard. And listening meant compromises. And he had made some of them, quite a lot in fact, because now he was spending his time trying to put on shoes other than his. It wasn't easy. Sometimes he even failed to do so. But even then, he still listened and did his best to make everyone, if not happy, at least content with the outcome of things. Because it was about justice, and it is blind, not deaf. Tony did his best to be considerate of everyone's feelings and opinions, which was great and all, except for a tiny little detail: it had to go both ways. Things were just bound to blow up after a while of piling one-way considerations.

With Tony being now the only official leader and face of the Avengers, it was now up to him to keep the machine going. Because, unlike some people, Tony had been aware of his position all along, meaning, beyond the personal decision of being an Avenger, there was the consequences of it when it came to the rest of the world. He wasn't just walking in his own lane anymore, no, now he was sharing it with almost eight billions of people on the planet. He was aware of the symbolic figure of Iron Man, what its mere existence meant for some people, what he set as an example or a role model for them. Maybe it had been easier for him to be aware of that aspect in his life because he always had been a public figure, even as a child, and fame did that to you; everything you were doing for yourself, you were doing it for the people as well. And he had thought that Steve understood that as well, with all the propaganda he was forced to partake in as a war icon all those years back. That he couldn't just act like he wanted, because everything he did set an example that people were more than less willing to follow. He was Captain America, for hell's sake, so he ought to be almost always right, no?

Rogers could argue he did care about all that, but his actions just showed clearly what his priorities ladder was all about. He lived and felt like a soldier, ditto; in the end, sacrifices were just a daily routine for him. Or more like sacrifices independent from his will or considered so (Tony certainly hadn't forgotten the final choice befalling upon him during their last battle against Ultron in Sokovia, and Steve absurdly, stubbornly and infuriatingly standing his ground about not making the call of killing anyone for the sake of saving much more even though they had no choice, stupidly willing to die with the world he just chose to leave to its destruction out of personal beliefs. But let's not call him arrogant of course). If anything, he obviously could live with them.

Anyway, none of this was Tony's concern now. Not anymore. He was done. For a while at least. It had been wrong for him to overlook a break he desperately refused to admit he needed. Everyone had a breaking point. He was way past reaching his by then. It was finally time to be on the mend.

All on his own. Off in the great, wide world.

* * *

He didn't remember his first stop. Nor his second. Or even his third. He had prepared everything alright, but once set off, he didn't really have any traveling plans. He just went where his gut told him to go. Which wasn't really satisfying, to say the least. If anything, he was getting the taste of wandering like a lost soul literally. But it was fine. He was on a journey to seek something he didn't know he was looking for. That's what introspection was all about, right? It wasn't like there was any user manual for this kind of thing. One had always to manage on their own eventually.

And on his own did he manage. At first people recognized him of course, it was hard not to when he didn't sport a shabby three-days-worth-of-beard look yet. His face was, if not familiar, often ringing a bell for anyone who didn't sweep past him in the street. By now his 'temporary retirement' had been on the news for a few weeks already, and things were starting to subside, but that didn't exactly make him less noticeable. He was even sure that people were trying to track his movements down with all the videos and photos of him taken unbeknownst to him (or not) anywhere he went. He didn't really mind. His travels had purpose only for himself.

Nonetheless, it still became annoying after some time, and he decided to avoid overly populated areas. Completely even (changing countries didn't necessarily need a plane depending on where he was on the globe). There was more meaningful things to learn and discover in the most remote ones after all. For one, only there, where life was sometimes reduced to just appreciate what you had and being thankful for having anything at all, was he able to find some semblance of peace. For the likes of him, who had always known and been raised in a world where he supposedly had everything possession wise, it gave him a unique opportunity to really tinker from scratch with scraps.

But even more important, it gave him the chance to know what it felt like to help people on a much lesser scale. As an individual. Everywhere he went, there was plenty of things to fix, mend, or even improve. Quickly he had begun to avoid any wealthy destination such as Europe. There was nothing here for him to learn about himself. Or maybe there was, but he didn't want to do it the easy way. Far from his mind to think that there were no misery in developed countries, but their population had yet to acknowledge how much they were actually coddled. And he didn't want to give anyone the opportunity to point out again what he had been called (that exactly: coddled) every time there was something everyone seemed eager to blame on him.

No, he was going to do that properly. The harsh, realistic way. He wanted to see for himself what it was actually like to struggle to just live everyday. Some might argue that it was just some arrogant rich guy whim of his, but he didn't care. The fact was that he was actually here, helping people whenever he could wherever he was, without his wealth, fame, or suit. No Sir. Not even as Tony Stark. For those people, he was just another human being lending them a hand because he could, whether it was on the spur of the moment or in exchange for a night or two under the shelter of their (more often than not) makeshift roof.

And here was another thing that he found fascinating: the lack of need for money. Those people had literally nothing, and could just exchange services with each other, because money was never and would never be an issue. In their world, it simply didn't exist. They were way too far from the capitalist world, whom they would have had no assets to present to anyway, because what they cherished had actually no value in it. If you wanted something, you could either get it in exchange of something else, or by the will of kindness and/or generosity from someone else. Very simple. Too bad it only worked in small communities. He could live that way. Sell out his tinkering services to anyone who needed them, the reward being either a life necessity or a sweet little luxury he'd had by then learnt to call precious. One was mistaken into thinking he needed anything technologically fancy to challenge his mind. The fact was, it wasn't the advanced tech his mind was having a blast with most of the time, oh no; it was the creation challenge it brought with it. The endless possibilities it offered to a mind like his, the thirst to overcome supposedly set limitations, the eagerness to prove that there was a way, there was always a way. His own mistake had been to think that only technology could keep him away from boredom.

But first of all, with this new wandering lifestyle of his, he had to learn things again. From scratch. Whenever he went somewhere new and indisputably unknown. Sometimes, without even knowing the language, he listened for hours as locals told him all about how things were working here, how they were done. He grasped the shape of entire new worlds this way, systems he would never have thought about because of his geographical landing when birthed in this realm. So much for being "cultured". He knew he could never completely understand, because he was never a part of it, wasn't meant to be, but it held no importance whatsoever; he wasn't seeking a place to belong to, but a mean to shift the restrains of his overclouded boundaries.

He did expect the high capacity for sharing in those very low-class spheres (well in some of them that is), but still, it came as a surprise to him how willing they were. It was a very nice change to actually meet people who had nothing but were eager to share the little they had unconditionally, be it material possessions or trust into your fellow mutual/visitor. Tony didn't experience any disappointment everywhere he went, as he was warmly welcome every time (and when he wasn't, it never crossed his mind to blame anyone). Sometimes he had the feeling that word of his arrival had been spread when he went from a village to another in the same area or region, since there were people kind of waiting for him to fix a few things or at least show them how to do it from time to time, so they could do it on their own in the future. At first he feared kind of a repetition of his years at MIT, when he was the youngest and eager to belong, and let himself be of service to anyone willing to grant him some social approval in exchange. Of course, things didn't turn out that well in the end, since he was more exploited than anything else, and for very little results regarding the loneliness he had wished to get rid of in return.

But here, it was different. The people waiting for him at the village entrance didn't have taking advantage in mind; they sincerely asked for his help to improve things and show them what they could actually do with the little they had. They respected his intellect, but even better, they didn't take it for granted; they were as eager to learn as to teach, showing him and making him learn the basic survival skills he needed to go further on his journey. So he began to stay longer. A few nights quickly became a few days, and then a fortnight, sometimes more. He began to teach actual classes to everyone who was willing to learn, and soon he had dozens of people from all surrounding communities coming to his little displays. The language barrier wasn't a problem when you could show what you meant. So he did.

And it felt good. Because as opposed to the kind of helping he was doing as Iron Man, meaning, on a grand scale, beside saving people once in a while, now he actually saw the direct results, even foresaw them in the long run. As an Avenger, he had been too high above, and that distance had been gnawing at him, unaware. He realized now, while looking at all those people hungry for more every time he was done teaching them something, that until now being an Avenger had been sitting on a throne while thinking it was a chair. He couldn't help wondering about Bruce, working as a doctor for underprivileged people in India before the whole... business sought him out. If he had felt the same. Like he was really making a difference. He guessed they were finally both cut from the same cloth now (may he be safe and away from all that mess for a long time still).

Traveling on his own with the bare minimum did wonders for his sense of self-worth as well. He finally came to face the fact that he wasn't exceptional because he was Tony Stark. No, he was unlike anyone else because he did what no one else could do. Which had obviously its perks.

But also, as rotten-luck people like him often experienced, and as it turned out later, its downsides.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

So, I'm the kind of person who does things when she's very pissed off and frustrated (mostly pissed off haha) and as some of you might have noticed, CA: CW did just that.

So after months of bitter brooding, here you are, a post-CW FrostIron fanfic I've been working on for a few weeks now. I cleared all my other works (beside the translation of Dead Memories who's not finished of course) especially for that purpose.

Now let me tell you that I'm the kind of writer who's just totally unable to make short things. It's like, in my DNA. So the chapters will probably be relatively long, which means a certain amount of time can pass between them being posted, so I'm sorry but you'll certainly have to be patient.

 **Another thing: the story is initially in English, but since I don't want to deprive my French readers as well, I'm translating it in French, and I decided to post the two versions at the same time, so I'm sorry, but it will mean more waiting time, as the time I need to translate will be added to the time I will need to write the chapters. I still hope you will enjoy the story though!**


	2. Caught Mid-Flight

**Chapter 2: Caught Mid-Flight**

 ** _Mirrors' oversight  
like over there that island  
where shadows sleep  
_**

 _ **-The Fan Painter**  
_

* * *

He would be lying if he said he hadn't been tempted one time too many to throw that sorry piece of junk posing as a phone away. Along with that blasted joke of a letter dripping with nothing but facsimiles of excuses. Oh he wouldn't claim knowing Steve Rogers, far from it; no, he'd rather say that the guy just never regretted anything he did. People who believed themselves in the right never did.

But he held on and kept the bloody thing. Mainly because Rhodey kept "accidentally" stepping heavily in his toes whenever he caught Tony staring thoughtfully at the prehistoric device near a window or any piece of furniture that could be used either as a mean to damage or to destroy (Tony had arched a massive eyebrow the morning his friend had actually moved the _toaster_ slightly away from him, almost as an afterthought, when coming down for breakfast). He had also threatened to call him Tony Stank for the rest of his life, and Tony couldn't really have that, could he?

Eventually he settled to straight out give the phone to him. This way he wouldn't be responsible if something happened to it, yeah, even when DUM-E was trying to use the fire extinguisher on it. Poor thing just wanted to prevent fire hazard, you couldn't blame it for that! Anyway, when it came down to contact Team Jailbait, Tony generally let Rhodey do it; he didn't trust himself enough to not just snap at Steve at some point, because the dumbass was utterly incapable of just _listening for hell's sake_ and it drove Tony crazy and he might actually end _really_ destroying that stupid phone with a well-aimed repulsor shot in a fit of frustrated rage. Without taking into account the fact that people had this tendency to blindly follow the man whenever they had the opportunity, which particularly riled him up. So yeah, better let Rhodey do the talking.

And Tony would know about being completely entranced by Captain USA, he had been exactly the same once. But at least he had the excuse of being eight and completely brainwashed by his father's hero-worship. When it became clear, at that time, that the ghost of an icon was more important than his own flesh and blood to his dad, Tony lost interest altogether, trying to find another way to get Howard's approval. He guessed that part of the reason he had absolutely loved the Captain as a child was the hope it would be the bridge finally connecting him to his father. Tony could see now that his mistake at the time had been to see it as an interest on his part, when for Howard it was nothing else than an obsession. Into which he fully gave in when he realized his son didn't share it with him. So the sense of betrayal had been even more sour. And that's when the resentment began. Because if even Captain America couldn't make his father love him, then no one could. Unbeknown to Steve, he had already let Tony down that first time.

And it had gotten worse upon meeting him. Already irked by the very concept of a holy-hero-who-could-do-no-harm, Tony had lacked self-control when the man turned out to be exactly what his father always said he was. It was irritating, to say the least, to see his perfect boy-scout attitude in all its glory, and even worse, seeing everyone relish in it like he was the solution to all their problems. The guy had barely woken up from a seventy years beauty sleep, knew nothing of a world he hadn't seen change, stank of confusion and sported one century of faded glory dust, but still inspired more respect and admiration than anyone else alive just upon entering a room. To say that it stung at the time was an understatement.

As for now, despite the international pressure, Tony had done his best to stop the manhunt of his fellow fugitive Avengers, and he had succeeded, but not without a price. In fact, the only way he had found to cancel the arrest warrant against them was to declare the current Avengers Team as null and void. No Avengers, no warrant against them. Also, since the team was operating on illegal ground from its very creation anyway, they basically didn't possess any legal capacity to sign anything to begin with, and the text of the Accords stated "Avengers", not each of them individually. Their group having been legally inexistent at the time, and now that Tony had insured it to be official, it made de facto the Accords null and void.

Tony had been hated for pulling that one out.

And it was only the beginning of the judicial wheel. In fact, way before he triggered the whole procedure and made all the UN (and Ross especially) now busy with hating on him and probably planning his demise, Tony had worked his ass off on a strategy. He had begun just after his return from Siberia, even before receiving a mean to contact the others (at first he had planned to go via contacting the Wakanda King, because come on, he wasn't daft, there weren't a lot of places on the planet where they could safely hide with Terminator out there), as poor and offensive as it was.

The first few days, he had worked on a draft, seeking advice from Rhodey and, surprisingly, Pepper. They could have been on a "break" relationship wise, but it didn't put their friendship on hold as far as he knew. She was a bit weary at the beginning, but became fully invested when it was clear it wasn't a convoluted way to talk about personal matters. As already stated, those could wait. Her insight was, as usual, very sharp and useful, and he couldn't thank her enough for that, to which she had joked about giving herself a rise. A fond smile had found its way on his lips upon hearing that, and that's when he knew for sure she would, one way or another, always be a part of his life. Falling out of love wasn't the issue, but letting it destroy everything else on its wake was. Their ship had sailed; no reason to let the whole harbor burn over that.

And then he had called Sam Wilson. Or, he had made Rhodey call Steve, who in turn had given the phone to Wilson, because there was no way he was talking to Rogers, just hearing his damn voice would grate on his nerves, he just knew it, and he couldn't lose his temper while negotiating. Because this was exactly his intention. And so far, Wilson had been the only one willing to listen and talk to him without antagonizing him and throwing criticisms and accusations around. Tony was really grateful for that. So once he had a hang of the guy, he explained everything to him, what his plan and strategy were, how it obviously couldn't be done without them, and how they needed to find a common ground among themselves before doing anything else. Sam had listened without interrupting, patiently, and then asked for a moment so he could relay the information to the others, promising he would call back. Tony had gratefully granted it, and only had to wait a few hours before the phone rang, and off they went. They had discussed the terms of the new Accords at length, Tony having sent his first draft upon ending their first call, and it turned out (unsurprisingly really) that Sam was way easier to talk to when it came to serious things such as these. He served as the bridge between him and Rogers (since every time Tony had the man at the other end, he would either hang up or give the phone to Rhodey), who actually listened to him (and Tony would be lying if he said he hadn't counted on that).

The new points they all agreed on included:

-Ability to act independently outside of the UN frame under condition of full legal responsibility for their actions and their consequences  
-Ability to refuse a mission given to them if deemed outside the Avengers agenda  
-Total control over which team members they are sending on a mission and how many of them  
-Possibility to bypass authorities refusal for them to act in case of imminent danger for the population

Basically, a make-over of all the flaws Rogers had pointed out before. If it didn't make him happy, there was no resolving their predicament. Luckily for them, Rogers was stubborn, but not THAT stupid, and had agreed easily enough. Sometimes it really was a matter of who you sent as a diplomat (Wilson was a freakingly great asset, he totally deserved his place on the team). Once everything had been settled, Tony put professionals provided by Pepper to work on the official version of the text, and got himself to work on phase two: setting a legal frame for the Avengers.

Establishing them as an international co-governmental group hadn't been the tough part, contrary to the fact of coming up with a list of official requirements to be able to enter said group and internal policies. Of course, one of them was signing the new Accords, so until the others hadn't done so, they still weren't Avengers yet. Anyone who didn't want to ratify the text couldn't be an Avenger, but could still work with them as a contractual partner or a consultant (not mentioning those who only accepted to be called as back-up and on last resort); they just couldn't intervene on an international scale without asking permission to the UN to do so, provided they accept to be under their authority for the duration of the mission. All in all, it was a delicate business.

Upon thinking about the whole matter, Tony had also a few improving ideas to add in order to prevent some of the main things people were complaining about when it came to them. Mostly, property damage and not knowing what to be careful of (beside people of course) when fighting in populated areas. Not being able to prevent destruction in a fight was one thing, not trying to put a limit on it another. Pepper had the idea, and Tony, beside putting a list of rules to follow and to agree to in order to be an Avenger, installed training programs and courses as well to put some sort of professionalism in their interventions; they couldn't afford to make mistakes like in the past, be it not supervising their doings or send new recruits in the field on the sole basis of the personal conviction of one of them regarding their readiness. Not anymore, not when civilian lives were the goal end in any circumstances. He would bring up the case of Ultron and Wanda himself if he had to, you could trust him on that.

The new courses included world history, foreign cultures, memorizing the maps of at least the biggest cities in the world, and languages, as many as possible. One could argue they now had technology for that (and Vision and Friday), but Tony had to think about every scenario, including the worst ones where they were completely left to their own devices, bereft of any technological means. It could happen, and on that sole behalf, they had to be able to use traditional means to gain information, meaning reading a plan in the street or asking someone, thus the languages courses. Pepper had also pointed out that being mindful of cultural heritage was just respect. You couldn't use the heat of the moment to justify all the destruction in your wake every single time. A city isn't your usual battlefield, and it was time they acknowledged that. Of course, Tony had also thought about a financial plan to share the cost for the repairs just in case, as they wouldn't always be able to prevent the destruction of something important during a fight.

He had to consult Pepper on that, as she was the CEO of Stark Industries and the big boss in a general manner. She agreed easily enough on the fact that the company couldn't just leave the Avengers to their own devices financially speaking, as it would just throw them under the bus of the UN. New Sokovia Accords or not, money was still the biggest leverage one could find to tip the scales on their favor, and thus gain complete control of the team by means of passive-aggressive non-officially disclosed blackmail; so being completely dependent from the world governments, money wise, was just a no-go.

Together, they agreed on a plan involving sources of income outside politic entities, meaning partnerships with the business world. For each company sponsoring the Avengers, they would get the rights to sell and produce anything Avengers related that Stark Industries had the stranglehold on until now, and this without paying for copyrights. The majority of the benefits would serve the costs for the repairs after Avengers' interventions of course, but they could keep the rest. All in all, a very interesting partnership for them, as the Avengers' by-products and goodies were selling like crazy world-wide (even after their little mishaps; they just had a little decrease in sales, but overall, it wasn't significant enough to be alarming). They also agreed to split the bills as so: between the local authorities having asked for the Avengers' help, the UN, and the Avengers. The first would pay half, the second a quarter, and the Avengers, the quarter left. This way, the Avengers would truly secure their independence while contributing to their end of the bargain regarding accountability.

Still, their priority remained with protecting people above anything else. That's why Tony also came up with the main rule in the new Avengers policies, one stating that, if possible, they had to move the fight in an unpopulated or less populated area immediately upon arrival or as soon as the possibility arose. It was top priority. This way, they could fight without walking on eggshells and go all out. All of these might have sounded like technicalities, but at this point, they were just a necessary improvement. Super-heroing wasn't easy, far, far from that, and they were just starting to realize how much - God, there was still so much to do to make it work.

All he had to do after that was to freeze the current Sokovia Accords (which he hadn't done immediately because the Avengers still needed international cooperation to be able to intervene until he presented his new text), and wait it out for all one hundred and seventeen countries to agree to the terms with the threat of having to face massive crisis on their own (Tony had taken a vicious pleasure in walking into General Ross' office, putting the document on his desk under his dumbfounded expression, and walking out with a 'see you in a few, Gen' casually thrown behind his shoulder. The conference call that ensued a few hours later was very red, very angry, and full of interesting high-pitch screeches on his part that Rhodey had found particularly efficient to wake up to in the morning).

When he was finally finished with this minor setback (it took just a few more months), he turned his attention to the new bill the US government had just decided to pass, AKA the Superhuman Registration Act, which in itself wasn't a bad idea, but sported everything that would make Rogers go all rogue again, beginning with the fact it was mandatory. And after taking a closer look, the rest wasn't much better, if taking prints, DNA, blood samples of all the registered (not mentioning the listing of course) and taking "dangerousness tests" wasn't considered the worst. The way Tony was seeing it, the thing was obviously ill-named, an opinion he shared during a press conference where he had called it the Gestapo Act (Pepper gave him hell for it. And Rhodey got toasted too, because he had been laughing his ass off instead of scolding him as well). Because seriously? Only the confinement (or "training") camps were missing.

Now getting rid of that thing was trickier, because it was US politics. Never mind. Tony had still leverage. Rogers wouldn't have agreed, but 1) he wasn't here so, 2) he didn't get to vote, and 3) fuck him. So he politely and subtly pressured the US government in changing the bill by insinuating that, would they refuse to change the law, he would disband the new Avengers group. Yes, it was totally blackmail. Yes, he was taking civilian lives hostage. Of course not he didn't count on the international uproar or pressure that ensued, how paranoid they were! That would have been utterly and disgustingly cheeky on his part. And what about accountability of super-powered individuals? Oh yeah, it so happened that Tony also had a little text to submit to them; lucky them!

Now what did this new Act offer? Let's see together shall we?

-To register as a super-human isn't mandatory  
-Possibility to unregister at any time unconditionally  
-No prints, DNA, or blood samples taken, or they have to be given by the registered on their own volition, _if and only if_ they deem it personally necessary  
-All samples given must be destroyed upon the person unregistering  
-If, for whatever reason, said samples are used or found unbeknown to the person somewhere they shouldn't be, the government is responsible and can be sued immediately  
-All registered gain social protection upon registering  
-All registered are responsible for losing control of their powers, but the Act ensures they get specialized legal help if it happens  
-All registered gain access to specialized medical care provided they need it

And all of that free of charge of course, or for a minimum amount of money. It honestly hadn't been that hard to come up with them, because as a business man and a public figure, Tony knew the basics of marketing strategy; if you wanted a product to sell, you had to make sure it appealed to people. And obviously, politicians were bad business men.

Let's take Vision now. Yes, Vision. He was like, the embodiment of what being super-powered stood for, and he wasn't even human. The perfect target for all the haters then. And still, people were happy to have him on their side on the field when trouble arose. Basically the typical hypocrisy scenario, when you attacked viciously what was different from you while having no qualms at all in using it when handy. So far the android had been spared by the storm thanks to Wanda's mishap in Lagos, but Tony wasn't fooled; it was only a matter of time before it was brought back from under the rug.

The problem was that, technically, as having been born in exceptional and totally not legal circumstances as a non-human sentient being, Vision couldn't benefit from or take part in any legislation. He had no legal identity, no background, no parents, no family, no nothing. He literally didn't exist. Which meant he couldn't sign or be part of anything even remotely managed by laws. Which meant he couldn't be an Avenger. Which meant he wouldn't be able to do anything as such. Which meant it sucked big time, as he was an irreplaceable asset. Tony had to change that. So he did.

One day he introduced a text (that he very humbly called the Stark Initiative because there was no way they'd label another's name on _his_ idea thank you very much) granting a planetary citizenship to anyone who wasn't from Earth but wished to abide by its laws and most of all benefit from them, making them a Citizen of Earth. The UN had been reluctant at first, but when he mentioned that technically Thor couldn't be signed up for the Avengers as well because he was NOT from Earth and didn't have any legal capacity to sign anything, they yielded almost right away. Even absent, Point Break was a champ.

Vision had been enchanted by the idea of being a Citizen of Earth, the very first one, and hadn't even thought twice about signing and providing all necessary documents when the law was voted and took effect, and in record time because they couldn't afford to not have him available on the field. (It was so cute to see him proudly sporting his brand new ID card pinned on his sweater everywhere he floated about the first days; Tony made Friday take approximately a zillion pictures). Everything left wasn't up to Tony now, not entirely, as only time would tell if things would work like this now, but finally, fucking finally…they were ready.

The Avengers Initiative was definitely, and hopefully for a long time, officially on board.

* * *

Tony needed a break. He'd been traveling all around the world for months now - maybe it was even close to a year, he didn't really check the calendar - and he was getting really, really tired. So he decided it was time to make a significant stop somewhere quiet, tranquil and generally known to have people leaving you the fuck alone.

Thus Japan.

It was the closest place corresponding to that description at the time being, as he was in Asia, so he boarded the first plane for Tokyo and landed on the archipelago, breathing the mildly fresh midsummer breeze as he took his first step outside the airport. It wasn't his first time in the country, far from it, but that would be the first no one sported a "Mr. Tony Stark" sign next to a sleek black luxury car ordered especially for him.

The streets were flooded with people, but not crowded in the American or outright Occidental way the word may imply. It was a thing he had curiously noted during his numerous stays here, that clock-work way of moving in the thickest sea of people, like gentle waves swaying at the skies and abyss whims and still never colliding with one another. Sharing the same space with unknown people, and still never stepping on each other, never being louder, in the manner of an old, low lingering tune whose very core couldn't even be scrapped by centuries of world-tipping changes. Very far from the chaotic, noisy and even aggressive way you could sometimes find in huge, buzzing American cities like New York. Japanese people were masters at making you feel like the stranger, the "gaijin" you were just by walking in the street, and it was just another proof for Tony to have about feeling otherworldly on his own planet. Tokyo, and Japan as a whole, weren't buzzing; they were humming.

Tony had already decided for his final destination upon entering the closest Shinkansen train station, namely a remote, forgotten tiny island on the Pacific Coast of the archipelago that one of his advisors told him about quite a long time ago. Those years seemed so far away now, like belonging to someone else, which wasn't wrong per se; after all, that someone had been rebirthed anew upon extracting themselves from the bottom of an Afghani cave among screams and blood. The fiery bit had just been a personal touch.

Something collided with his leg while he was trying to fish out rusty memories of Japanese to decipher the colorful plan on the platform wall. A young woman, probably in her thirties or so, was already bowing and relentlessly apologizing in a rushed flowing Japanese by the time his gaze set on the little girl below. She had angry, red and puffy eyes, obvious signs of having cried recently, and the reason was lying next to his feet. Crouching slowly as to not startle any of them - he remembered how wary Japanese were of foreigners, especially the ones looking like hobos with an actual beard instead of barely dark stubble - he picked up the Captain America plush toy half crumpled on his shoe, carefully dusting its big round face with shiny black button eyes, sewn pink half circle smile and little fluttering white wings on each side of a bright blue tissue helmet. Its body was made out of five big soft lumps, one for each member plus the trunk. All in all, the plush doll radiated friendliness, joy, and basically everything that made you all fluffy inside when you were eight years old and had a massive crush on your first superhero.

Tony knew that model very well; his company was making them. That's why he knew right away what the problem was. The toys were all finely made, but that doll in particular had a string with a plastic ring on its end that you could pull to make it cry out an encouraging line. He knew the very first series had a little flaw that made the toy malfunction from time to time, and it appeared being the case here. He just had to pull on the string to check that no little enthusiastic voice was coming out of it.

The little girl's eyes were tearing up again when he looked up.

'Iwanaika (1)?' he asked with a gentle smile in a broken and rusty accent. The mother looked a little startled, but her daughter just nodded furiously, not impressed in the least.

Children were so tough.

He lifted a hand in a universal 'wait please' gesture, eyes twinkling. The child looked at him curiously while he sat down and pulled a little sewing kit and a mini toolbox out of his bag pack. Careful as to not block the way of the people speeding by, he adopted a cross-legged position, and set to work. He had learnt how to sew pretty quickly during the past months, from women mostly, and had been really impressed by their skills, as it wasn't something that easy to begin with (his poor fingertips could vouch for that). He also quickly learnt that when you're travelling alone in mostly remote areas, shops were a godsend, and available new sets of clothing even more. Then either you learned how to patch up your clothes on your own, or you resigned yourself to go in rags. The choice had been easy for Tony.

Cutting open the back of the doll with extra care under the piercing eyes of its owner, he quickly revealed the little micro-chip and speaker device inside, easily identifying the problem. Nothing a genius engineer like him couldn't fix with but a flick of the wrist. He even took the time to correct the faulty part so it wouldn't malfunction anymore, and pretty soon he was perfectly stitching back the plush, handing it back to the astonished little girl who carefully pulled the string after a little prompt from Tony.

'Isshoni, dekimasuyo (2)!' it cried with determination.

The child's face lit up right away and she hastily ran back to her mother to show her the toy all repaired, the woman instructing her something in hushed tones. The little girl came back then, and bowed deeply in front of him with an 'Arigato gosaimasu!' in a reedy voice. Tony bowed as well as he could while sitting up in return, putting back all his equipment in his bag. The mother waited for him to stand up before walking up to him and bowing, darting her eyes on the plan behind him before gesturing at it in a questioning manner. Tony nodded, grateful for the offered help, and just pronounced his direction's name. The woman seemed to know the way perfectly well, and spent several minutes patiently explaining to him with abounding gestures and heavy accented English how to get there. He was about to profusely thank her when they were done when her daughter suddenly cried out, excited.

'Avengers!'

Tony and her mother both looked up at the TVs displaying news 24 hours a day. On the screen, the Avengers, or more like a team of them, were battling a bunch of rogue army bots - as far as he could tell - with the camera focused on Steve in particular. It was following his every move, expertly throwing the shield - sporting a capital red 'A' -, twirling in the middle of a pirouette, showing way more flexibility, strength, and grace than your average human. A raw demonstration of power.

That Tony couldn't care less about.

Averting his eyes, he thanked the woman properly before setting off to take his train, glancing briefly at her awed daughter completely engrossed by the fight of her favorite hero as more and more people were stopping to watch and cheer at the man who couldn't hear them, a crowd forming rapidly on the platform.

He didn't look back.

When he finally arrived after hours and hours of train and more hours in the little boat he boarded to get to the island - he was lucky on that part, having caught it just as it was about to depart, otherwise he would have had to wait one entire week more to take the next one -, it was dawn. He was happy but also so exhausted that he didn't care about setting camp and spending one last night outside instead of walking all the way to the only bed and breakfast in town. The village was barely a few hundreds of inhabitants if his memory wasn't failing him, and they mostly kept to themselves. No one would look for him here. It was perfect.

Now the matter was to find a decent spot to roll out his sleeping bag - he had eaten on the way already - and turn in for the night. He was headed for a nice place near the main path to the village going through the forest - the boat dropped him off on the beach - when a figure stepped out of the shadows just as he was about to enter the natural shelter of the trees. The guy - it was definitely a guy, that much he could tell - was tall and kind of lanky, striding lazily toward the water. Tony shrugged, not really interested. It was summer, the night was clear, the temperature just on the verge of hot, and the breeze fresh. He would have gone for a stroll on the beach too with this weather. The man was going toward him, so they would cross paths. Okay. An occasion to say hi and to at least recognize a face on the island. No big deal.

Except HA. Yes big deal. _Of course_ big deal.

Tony narrowed his eyes as the guy closed on him, having a vague sense of familiarity becoming to grow at the back of his head. He knew that figure, that measured, careful pace, and still steady and assured. Almost like a…

He stared as the man's face was revealed in a ray of starlight, stopping altogether. The man did the same, frozen on the spot, sharing the same bewildered, horrified expression as they recognized each other. To be honest, it was a very bad move on Tony's part to not have broken into a run the second he had heard the bell starting to ring in his head.

Rhodey was right; he had no survival instinct.

' _Loki?_ '

Tony saw a flicker of something in the verdant eyes, and then a predatory smile stretched slowly on the god's lips right before a swift and formidable blow to his temple knocked Tony out on the spot, making him crumble heavily on the sand.

As everything faded to black, Tony wondered briefly why it had looked like panic.

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes :**_

 _ **(1) Iwanaika : It doesn't work anymore?  
**_

 _ **(2) Isshoni dekimasuyo : Together, we can do it!**_


End file.
